As promised last time, I return to
the wide world of shinobi to list my top 10 favorite fights in Naruto.
Being a Shonen action/adventure/fantasy manga, Naruto was always, of course, filled to the brim with fights and
battles, ranging from one-on-one showdowns to a whole-scale war between huge
armies. And for the most part, I loved
it when we got them. How could I
not? Warriors with the ability to reshape
the earth around them (not dissimilar to Avatar
in that respect) hurling all manner of weapons and superpowers at each other,
some of them incredibly creative, combined with brilliant on-the-spot
stratagems and a harsh narrative tone that emphasized the emptiness of death
after a life spent fighting- what’s not to love?
But which were the best ones? The ones that stood out from all the rest,
the ones that avoided the visual confusion of the later war or that succeeded
in advancing the story in a meaningful way?
The ones that went above and beyond in showing cool powers or tricks, or
that had an ending that did not make we want to smack my head into a brick wall
and scream bloody murder? After much
thought, I sure know the ones that did it all for me.
Before we begin, a dishonorable
mention goes to the hugely-hyped-up fight between Itachi and Sasuke. After all of the build-up we got to this
moment, the entire reason Sasuke turned dark in the first place, we not only
went out with Itachi, one of the coolest characters in the entire franchise,
drop dead from an illness not once hinted at previously, but also get the start
of the awful trend of Sasuke getting his ass kicked in every battle, yet
somehow surviving on a technicality (or just getting saved by others). Ugh.
With that out of the way, on to the
positive stuff! Whenever possible, I
have tried to find videos of at least somewhat-decent quality to aid a search
for the fights, if you have not yet seen them yourself.
**a note regarding the video clips. I tried to find the best quality Japanese versions on Youtube to give a sense of the action, but if you really want to appreciate the full scope of each battle, I recommend digging up and watching the full episodes with each fight. They are all worth the effort**
10.
Sakura & Chiyo vs. Sasori
I came very close to putting the
fight between Guy and Kisame from the same arc on here, since it too is
fantastic, but ended up pushing it off and picking this one mostly because this
battle ended up carrying a lot more emotional weight. Consider Kisame/Guy a very honorable
mention. Plus, Sakura deserves to be on
this list somewhere.
A big part of what made this battle
so excellent was how different it was from most. While the different types of jutsu used most
of the time tended to blend together after a while, the puppet techniques
remained some of the most unique (and creepy- that chittering sound they make
will never leave me in peace), and this was the lone battle we got with half a
freaking army of them being thrown at each other.
9.
Killberbee/8-Tails vs. Sasuke & Co.
Yeeeaaaaah, I won’t blame anyone who
hated Killerbee’s character for being a touch on the racist (or at least
heavily stereotypical) side. Even if you
hate him, though, there’s no hating his fantastic use of swords in this fight,
and the 8-Tails may very well be my favorite of all the Tailed Beast designs,
mixing a massive octopus with a longhorn bull.
Now that’s MY kind of insane monster design.
Plus, it features Sasuke being
absolutely destroyed by an opponent he completely underestimated. Kind of a pattern with him.
8.
The 5 Kages vs. Sasuke
And speaking of Sasuke being
destroyed by opponents because he totally overestimated his own strength!
I already spoke a bit about why I
loved the 5-Kage Summit as a whole in my last post, and a big, BIG reason for
that was due to how, in addition to getting some great bits of world-building
and meeting some fantastic new characters, we also got to see each of the Kages
show off their tremendous powers by beating Sasuke to a pulp. It all culminates in the hilarious and
cathartic image of an unconscious Sasuke slumped on Tobi’s shoulder.
7.
The 5 Kages vs. Madara
The war at the end of Naruto began to feel needlessly dragged
out, and the battles way too stupidly over-powered, way too fast. For my money though, it was all worth it when
we got to see all 5 Kages lined up against Madara Uchiha himself, each bringing
out literally every power in their arsenal and combining them in fantastic ways. Sadly, I felt compelled to take points off (thus
bumping it down this list) mostly because of how unbelievably stupid Madara’s
powers ended up being, especially the horrid cop-out of an ending that let
Madara throw off the jutsu to end the resurrection with what amounted to a measly
flick of his wrist.
6.
Gaara vs. Naruto/Sasuke (Chuunin Exam Arc)
This one was a hard, hard choice. This is one of three iconic fights from this
arc, the other two being Naruto vs. Neji and Gaara vs. Rock Lee (both of them
part of the official exam itself and not the invasion that follows). Those two join Guy vs. Kisame in the
honorable mention category. I suppose I
ended up picking this last one mostly because, in addition to Naruto’s fight
with Neji, it is the first real affirmation of Naruto’s choices as a shinobi
and as a person- a scrappy fighter able to win by straight-up out-crazying his
opponents, but also a truly compassionate person, who’s lack of vengeful or
spiteful feelings towards everyone and anyone allow him to turn former enemies
into friends and allies later on (much like Luffy, but that is a comparison I
will flesh out another time). Given
Gaara’s later importance to the overall series, the end of this fight becomes a
key moment. Plus, I always loved seeing
the frogs fight.
5.
Zabuza vs. Kakashi (both parts)
This would eventually be outpaced in
terms of its size, grandeur, and narrative importance by many, many other
battles in the show, including a few from the Chunnin exam shortly
afterwards. Despite that, this one will
still always stand out prominently in my mind, simple because it was the first
real, deadly serious fight between elite ninja that we got to experience, and
like with the arc itself, it set a considerable amount of the tone and
standards for fights in the rest of the series, especially in how big
superpower attacks took a backseat to the use of clever stratagems to keep one’s
opponent off-guard.
Plus, it firmly established Kakashi
as the gold standard for Effing Bad-Assery.
So, there’s that too.
4.
Naruto vs. Pain
This battle marked the big turning
point for Naruto as a character, where he officially established himself as a
legitimate warrior, and not just a brash, idiotic kid with enough raw power to
just scrape by. Naruto’s relative
ineffectiveness as a fighter had been a mainstay of both the original series
and an awful lot of Shippuden (Jiraiya really didn’t seem to teach him all that
much during their time training together).
He was simply never a stand-alone threat to any of the major villains. However, if the series really was to follow
through on having him realize his dream of becoming Hokage, the switch had to
occur somewhere, and when we finally get it here, it proves well-worth the
wait. It’s a perfect mix of the use of
powerful elemental techniques with the sleight-of-hand trickery that had always
been a mainstay in Naruto, and the
final climax outside the village is one of the best and most satisfying endings
to a fight in the entire series. It also
included Hinata declaring her love for Naruto, which might have melted my
heart. Just a little.
Damnit Hinata, you really did
deserve better. Why couldn’t Kishimoto
have stuck you with Shikimaru?
3.
Danzo vs. Sasuke
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fe1QrFvBXc
**For some reason, linking would not work for this one. No matter. Here is the URL**
I already listed Danzo’s death as
one of my favorite moments in the overall story of Naruto, but a big reason it resonated so much with me was that it
came at the tail end of one of the best 10-chapter spreads of combat in the
entire series. And no, I am NOT just
saying that because Sasuke got himself Yamcha’d for the umpteenth time
(although that certainly helped). No,
the fight itself really was incredibly tense to follow, mostly due to the
Izanagi Sharingan technique it introduces.
An incredibly clever and interesting idea, namely that it can allow someone
to briefly negate their own death, and one where Kishimoto firmly stuck to the
price of using the technique for more than a few moments at a time. Plus, even though I started off the fight
still hating Danzo’s bandaged guts, it was pretty friggin’ awesome seeing him
whip out an arm literally covered in Sharingans. And then proceed to beat the crap out of
Sasuke. Which never gets old.
2.
Shikamaru/Naruto/Kakashi/Choji/Ino vs. Hidan/Kakuzu
Shikamaru’s crowning moment as a
character, this topped off one of the last great arcs of the second-half of Naruto.
Determined to avenge the death of their teacher at the hands of the “Zombie
Brothers” of Akatsuki, Ino, Choji, and Shikamaru ask Kakashi to step in as
their leader to help them track Hidan and Kakuzu down and eliminate them. We get to see Kakashi in extended action
again, and the end of the fight with Kakuzu features the unveiling of Naruto’s new
signature technique, the Rasenshuriken, but what makes this one stand apart
from all others is the brilliant and multi-layered ploy Shikamaru develops
specifically to handle Hidan’s immortality and seal him away forever. It is his high-water mark as a warrior and a
strategist (although he acquits himself well in the war later on), and is one
of the most emotional character moments in the entire story.
1.
Naruto vs. Sasuke (the original)
I
suppose the series set itself up for some disappointment with the end after
this fight, because it would have been extremely hard to top this battle even
if Kishimoto had not started sabotaging his own story long before it
ended. As the culmination of the first
part of Naruto, which functions much
better as a tightly-contained storyline than the second half does, there was no
other battle as emotionally fraught as this one, with two boys forced to
confront their admiration for each other, yet still feeling compelled to fight
to the death. Sasuke never again
succeeded in being a compelling character, while Naruto actually went on to get
more interesting by the end, so as far as their interactions as characters
went, this was the greatest height achieved.
And what a height it was. Great
action, brilliantly animated, and brimming with tension, it is my personal
favorite of all the fights in Naruto.
Thus ends Part 2 of my Naruto
look-back. Soon to come, the third and
final installment, followed by a special announcement for April. Stay tuned.
-Noah
Franc
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